Independent Lens
Season 14
201224 episodes
Episode 1
As Goes Janesville
Oct 8, 20121h
Filmed in 10 countries, the series follows Nicholas Kristof and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde on a journey to tell the stories of inspiring, courageous individuals. Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls.
Episode 2
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Part 2)
Oct 2, 20121h
Filmed in 10 countries, the series follows Nicholas Kristof and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde on a journey to tell the stories of inspiring, courageous individuals. Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls.
Episode 4
Love Free or Die
Oct 29, 20121h
Episode 5
Solar Mamas
Nov 5, 20121h
Episode 6
Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream
Nov 12, 20121h
Episode 7
Soul Food Junkies
Jan 14, 20131h
Food traditions are hard to change, especially when they're passed on from generation to generation. Baffled by his dad's unwillingness to change his traditional soul food diet in the face of a health crisis, filmmaker Byron Hurt sets out to learn more about this rich culinary tradition and its relevance to black cultural identity.
Episode 8
Beauty Is Embarrassing
Jan 21, 20131h
Raised in the Tennessee mountains, Wayne White started his career as a cartoonist in NYC. He quickly found success as one of the creators of the Pee-wee's Playhouse TV show which soon led to more work design some of the most arresting and iconic images in pop culture. Recently his word paintings featuring pithy and and often sarcastic text statements finely crafted onto vintage landscape paintings have made him a darling of the fine art world. The movie chronicles the vaulted highs and crushing lows of an artist struggling to find peace and balance between his professional work and his personal art. This is especially complicated for a man who struggles with the virtues he most often mocks in his art...Vanity, ego and fame.
Episode 9
The Revisionaries
Jan 28, 20131h
The Texas State Board of Education rewrites teaching and textbook standards once every decade.
Episode 10
The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights
Feb 18, 20131h
Episode 11
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Feb 25, 20131h
Profiling Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei, who helped design Beijing's iconic Bird's Nest Olympic stadium and later criticized the Games as party propaganda. His opposition to his country's autocratic rule, which he voices in his art and on social media, has caused him many difficulties, as filmmaker Alison Klayman witnesses during the making of this documentary: Government authorities shut down Ai's blog, beat him up, demolish his studio and hold him in secret detention for 81 days.
Episode 12
The House I Live In; As I Am
Apr 8, 20131h
Episode 13
Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
Apr 15, 20131h
Wonder Women! explores the nation’s long-term love affair with comic book superheroes and raises questions about the possibilities and contradictions of heroines within the genre. The film goes behind the scenes with Lynda Carter, Lindsay Wagner, Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Hanna, comic writers and artists, and others who offer an enlightening and entertaining counterpoint to the male-dominated superhero genre.
Episode 14
The Island President
Apr 22, 20131h
Episode 15
The Undocumented
Apr 29, 20131h
Thousands of migrants have perished in recent years while trying to cross the unforgiving Sonora desert in search of a better life in the United States. The film gives a face to some of the dead, and follows them on their long journey home.
Episode 16
Seeking Asian Female
May 6, 20131h
Two strangers — an aging white man and a young Chinese woman — pursue a marriage brokered by the Internet. They get more than they bargained for when she moves to America to be his bride in this quirky, appealing documentary.
Episode 17
The Invisible War
May 13, 20131h
The most shameful and best-kept secret in the U.S. Military? The epidemic of rape and sexual assault within the ranks. An American female soldier in a combat zone is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.
Episode 18
Detropia
May 27, 20131h
Can the Motor City rise from its ashes? A dynamic cluster of local innovators, entrepreneurs, and proud, self-proclaimed "hustlers” are poised to resurrect Detroit. The result could be a radically new city for the postindustrial age.
Episode 19
The Revolutionary Optimists
Jun 17, 20131h
Amlan Ganguly, a lawyer-turned social entrepreneur, has sown hope in the poorest neighborhoods of Calcutta by empowering children to become leaders in improving health, health, transforming their communities for the better.
Episode 20
Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman's Journey
Sep 30, 20131h
TMDB rating 6.0TMDB
Episode 21
The Waiting Room
Oct 21, 20131h
Episode 22
The Graduates
Air date not announced1h
Episode 24
Young Lakota
Air date not announced1h
Episode 25
Playwright: From Page to Stage
Air date not announced1h
Episode 26
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Air date not announced1h